New Knowledge Areas

SIWI has always worked to identify cutting-edge, future-oriented water-related issues which are outside of the mainstream debate and discussion, but which are nonetheless critical to the survival of the planet and to all living things on it. On this page you can find a brief introduction to these topics.

Anti-corruption in the Water Sector
SIWI has been a leading organisation in improving understanding of how corrupt drains the water sector. It reduces economic growth, discourages investment, violates human dignity, increases health risks and robs the poor of livelihoods and access to water services. SIWI was also a driving force behind the establishment of the Water Integrity Network (WIN), which was formed in 2006 to stimulate anti-corruption activities in the water sector worldwide.

Environmental Flows
Within an ecosystem, all living things depend not only on water, but on each other as well. Thus water and environment encompasses aquatic biodiversity, environmental flow requirements, water pollution control, and wetlands management – areas which have been investigated more critically by SIWI and the Swedish Water House. It is also critical that an integrated water resources perspective ensures that environmental, social, economic, and technical dimensions are taken into account in the management and development of water resources.

From Field to Fork
With rising population, urbanisation and higher incomes, food demand may double in the coming 50 years. Given the water scarcity and related environmental problems that are already occurring in many parts of the world, the corresponding increases in the pressure on water and land resources that will accompany these trends is a critical and grossly under-appreciated concern. To date, producer side solutions, like getting more “crop per drop,” have dominated recent discourse. But this discussion often neglects the tremendous unnecessary resource losses that occur at each stage of the food chain from the farmer’s field to our tables. For real solutions to the food, water and environment nexus, SIWI has begun to investigate how to pay attention to the entire production to consumption process, so that we understand what happens from “field to fork.”

Green Water
A groundbreaking concept introduced by SIWI in the last 10 years has been the concept of “green water”, which is key to sustainable and integrated water management in all its major facets as a fundamental natural resource, a livelihood element and an ecosystem component. The introduction of green water thinking has called for, in the words of Prof. Malin Falkenmark, “a corresponding paradigm shift in conceptual understanding”. The water necessary to produce the food required for an expanding human population is usually discussed only as an issue of blue water (the water we use from rivers and aquifers). That neglects the food produced from rain fed farming, which is critical in hunger- and poverty-stricken areas with rapid population growth and areas that depend not on blue water but on green water (the soil moisture used by plants and returned as vapour flow).
Better green water management is needed and essential in order to find realistic and sustainable options to feed the world of tomorrow. Today’s food production involves a consumptive water use of altogether 6800 km3/yr (out of which 1800 are supplied from blue water resources). To feed humanity by 2050 on 3000 kcal per person per day will require an additional 5600 km3/yr, out of which a maximum of 800 will come from blue water resources – improved green water use will account for much of the rest.

Hydro-hegemony
SIWI has been a driver behind the idea of “hydro-hegemony”. Often, the outcome of transboundary water interactions is determined by the interplay of power between the competitors for different water uses. The disproportionate power enjoyed by the more powerful riparian (the “hydro-hegemon”) allows it to set the agenda and sanction the discourse in its own self-interest – whether or not this if for unilateral or collective good. Power relations determine the outcome of international transboundary water interaction – in terms of sharing, access and management options. The most powerful riparian can shape the nature of the interaction – for unilateral or collective good. Hydro-hegemony may be used to guide all riparians towards a common goal. It may also be resisted or altered by the soft power of the weaker riparians.

Hydrosolidarity
Participants at events such as the annual World Water Week in Stockholm and the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development in South Africa hear and use the SIWI-initiated term “hydrosolidarity”. Though just one word, “hydrosolidarity” in practice has come to have several definitions. On the global and regional scales, transfer of water-related products such as grain (virtual water) as part of a global food security strategy is one type of hydrosolidarity. On the national scale, intranational water transfers from a water abundant region to a water-short region is another type. On the catchment scale, the upstream/downstream water sharing is impossible to avoid and calls for development of a catchment hydrosolidarity that is based on an ethically supported, delicately balanced orchestration of seemingly incompatible land, water and ecosystem related activities. On the crossnational scale, the upstream/downstream water sharing in transnational river basins is a similar type of hydrosolidarity but which is being superimposed by political aspects, i.e. where the sanctioned discourse perspective is a strong barrier to be overcome.

Resilience
The concept of ecosystem resilience has been addressed in numerous SIWI and related articles and reports. Resilience is the capacity of an ecosystem to cope with change and perturbation, such as storms, fire and pollution. Loss of resilience leads to more vulnerable systems, and possible ecosystem shifts to undesired states that provide fewer ecosystem goods (like fish and crops) and services (like flood control and water purification). Such loss of resilience can be caused by, for example, pollution, climate change, loss of biodiversity or altered freshwater flows. With decreased resilience, clear lakes can suddenly turn into murky, oxygen-depleted pools, grasslands into shrub-deserts, and coral reefs into algae-covered rubble. Resilience is the capacity of a system both to withstand pressures and to rebuild and renew itself if degraded.

Virtual Water
SIWI is examining how the clear signs of a water-deficit driven import of cereals – so called virtual water flow – and intensifying water stress in the semi-arid tropics suggests a major switch in global food trade. Food production in water rich regions may come to play an increasing role to alleviate hunger in water-short countries.

Water for Peace
Massive amounts of recent research in recent years show that water scarce states that share a water body tend to find co-operative solutions rather than enter into violent conflict. Thus, rather than reaching for arguments for the “water war hypotheses”, SIWI has examined more closely the idea that water is a uniting force and a potential source of peace rather than violent conflict. However, on another, smaller scale, lack of water may be a source of  local disagreement, another area of SIWI research.

Water Hydrocide
Coined by SIWI Professor Jan Lundqvist, the phrase “water hydrocide” describes when rivers, lakes and groundwater sources are polluted by domestic wastewater, agricultural runoff and industrial discharges to the point where a water “hydrocide” has occurred. Or, in other words, the water has become unsuitable for different uses by other sectors of the society, a vicious cycle which further deteriorates the possibilities for the pro-poor socio-economic development that is so badly needed in many parts of the world.

Water Scarcity
In spite of the fact that physical water scarcity is a dire reality for millions of people, it is still not properly understood nor recognised in many front-line discussions. An unfortunate confusion regarding growing physical water scarcity distorts policy formulation and effective action programmes. The scale and magnitude of the challenge imply that “water scarcity is everybody’s business.” SIWI has examined the issue more closely and developed a set of distinctions in this multi-layered issue, as well as concrete policy suggestions.